60L-34.0072. Educational Leave With Pay

(1) Agencies shall submit to the Department any program for employees to take educational leave with pay.

(2) Each agency’s educational leave with pay program shall have the following as its objectives:

(a) To develop participating employees’ knowledge, skills, and ability to meet known agency needs.

(b) To improve the performance level of participating employees.

(c) To provide to career State employees training that is of clearly foreseeable benefit to the agency.

(d) To enable the agency to provide improved service to the public.

(3) Each agency’s program shall include provisions that educational leave with pay may be granted any employee to attend a college, university, or training academy for one or more full academic periods, if the following criteria are met:

(a) The plan objectives will be met by allowing the employee to receive the training;

(b) The employee is able to meet the entrance requirements for a planned academic program related to the needs of the agency;

(c) The employee has been employed in the State Personnel System for at least one continuous year.

(4) Each agency’s program shall include a provision for the objective selection of employees to be granted educational leave with pay, the method by which they are to be selected, and assurance that selection will not be based on the age, race, sex, religion, national origin, handicap or political affiliation of the employee.

(5) The maximum number of employees granted educational leave with pay at one time shall not exceed two percent of the agency’s authorized positions during any fiscal year, unless a greater number is requested by the agency and approved by the Department.

(6) The agency’s expenditures for a participating employee’s salary and benefits during any academic period shall not exceed the amount that would have been expended by the state for the employee’s salary and benefits if the employee had remained on the job.

(7) Expenditure of funds for educational leave with pay shall be in accordance with the agency’s approved budget.

(8) Each employee who is to be granted educational leave with pay must, prior to the final approval of such leave, and as a condition of receiving such leave, enter into a written agreement with the agency providing, at a minimum:

(a) That the granting of educational leave with pay is terminable by the agency prior to the end of the approved period of leave if the employee fails to make satisfactory progress in the educational program for which the leave is granted. Satisfactory progress means that the employee is achieving a passing academic grade in each course offering that is part of the educational program. Satisfactory progress shall be determined conclusively between the agency and the employee by the final grade received in each course in which academic performance is assigned a grade or by certification from the instructor in each course in which academic performance is not assigned a grade that the employee has satisfactorily completed the course; provided that, in the case where a course is of such length that a final grade or determination of satisfactory completion cannot be made within six months after beginning the course, the instructor shall certify at the end of the first six months whether the employee is then performing at least at the minimum level required to satisfactorily complete the course according to the academic measures of the institution, and such certification shall be binding between the agency and the employee for purposes of termination of the leave.

(b) That, in consideration of the granting of educational leave with pay, the employee agrees to continue employment with the agency after completion of the training for a period of time equal to the length of leave taken, and that the employee’s voluntary termination of employment prior to the expiration of said period shall constitute a material breach of contract, entitling the State to liquidated damages in an amount equal to that sum which is the product of multiplying the total of all salary and benefit expenditures for the employee during the period of education leave taken by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of days remaining to be worked at termination to complete the period of employment equal to the period of educational leave with pay, and the denominator of which is the number of days of educational leave with pay taken.

(9) An employee who is granted educational leave with pay shall be returned to the same position unless the written agreement between the agency and the employee specifically includes a provision that the employee may be returned to a different position.

(10) Employees granted educational leave with pay are still employees of the agency and the State and, as such, retain all benefits, rights, and responsibilities of an employee while on such leave; provided, however, that time spent on educational leave with pay shall not be counted toward completion of the probationary period if the employee is on probationary status when such leave is approved. Employees on approved educational leave with pay shall be granted pay adjustments in the same amount and at the time as are granted all other employees in the same class. If a competitive area differential is approved for a class, an employee on educational leave with pay shall be granted a pay adjustment only if the competitive area differential applies to the position that the employee was filling when placed on educational leave with pay.

(11) The responsibility and accountability for performance and conduct are the same for employees on educational leave with pay as for other employees. Therefore, such employees are subject to the standards of conduct and the disciplinary procedures of the State Personnel System during the period of educational leave with pay.

Specific Authority 110.1055, 110.201(1), 110.219(5) FS. Law Implemented 110.219(5)(m) FS. History–New 1-1-02.